Study on a New Type of Sole for a Health Care Implement

Y. Hayakawa and Y. Ikeda (Japan)

Keywords

Pneumatic, Sole, Walking, Rubber Actuator, Health Care

Abstract

In Japan, many of them restrain user’s body and motion.
Therefore, many people pay attention to a walking to keep
their health. Therefore, in this study, we propose a new
type of sole with high performance by making use of
sponge-core-soft rubber actuator (SCSRA). Since the ac
tuator can estimate an external force by measurement of
pressure in the chamber, the actuator can estimate the dis
tribution of the external forces with foot parts. Thus, the
actuators can adjust the center of gravity position of the
foot part by control of inner pressure. In this paper, basic
performances of the proposed mechanism are clarified
from some experimental results. Furthermore, we investi
gate an adaptive shape of the actuator in the sole to con
trol the balance of the foot part.